We all want to hear something fresh, new, relevant, up-to-date and contemporary. Many jobs depend upon it. If you are working in stocks, commodities or precious metals, you need to know what happened yesterday and what is happening today. If you are shopping for a home, you need current information on what is available. If you are interested in a movie or a sale or what the president said in his latest release, you need that information- NOW. Perhaps that is why yesterday’s newspapers are never gobbled up in the hotels where I stay. If they were not read yesterday, no one is interested in them today. They are, after all, yesterday’s news.
But, there is something perilous about the fascination and consuming interest in the new and up-to-date. When it comes to fads, get-rich-quick schemes, fashion and virtually anything that is saleable, many pundits are banking on the fact that yesterday’s news, stuff and interests are insufficient for you. So, they continue to pump the value of the NOW. That, in essence heightens our desire to be current- to know and possess the latest. I even feel a twinge of that kind of pressure when someone asks me, “You’ve read the book . . . haven’t you? It is a must read for anyone in ministry, particularly a bishop” (a little added pressure). “It was just published and has been on the best sellers list and sold over 1 million copies” (which means that anyone worth their salt has read it). My life would obviously be incomplete without reading it and getting in the “know.” Without it, I cannot be conversant on the subject newly addressed. Without it, I am irrelevant.
Think about it. There is truly a subtle and constant pressure in the fields of marketing, knowledge, earnings, information technology and a host of other things to be current. That keeps the pressure on to acquire the new at any cost. It forces the old out by our sheer limitation and capacity. We can only handle so much information. So, since the new is critically important, the old takes a back seat. What is often neglected in that conversation is that something old and familiar “must go” or at least be diminished if we are going to stay current and get in the flow. After all, there is only so much time in the day.
Sadly, what often “goes” is that which is most constant, important and meaningful to us. After all, the “true” is by nature timeless. So, if something is really true and has sweeping historical significance, impacting the lives of people throughout generations, it likely has some staying power. And Jesus went on record that his words are like that- true and timeless. They are always meaningful. He said something powerful in Mark 13:31. He said, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.” That statement alone makes a claim that no other human could reasonably make without them being considered a megalomaniac. Think about it as I put it another way. “Everything else will come and go, but what I say will resonate throughout history, is completely true and has meaning for everyone at all times.” Now THAT’S A CLAIM. And, in retrospect, I would have to agree.
In fact, the context of that statement found Jesus predicting dire things for Jerusalem that happened to take place during the lifetime of his hearers. He did not need to say what he said as a point of affirmation since it happened the way he had spoken. But, he did it anyway. We would do well to take note. His statement broadened out the relevance of what he said to everything he said. He didn’t say, “These words about these events will come true.” He said, “but my words will never pass away.”
I look at what gets me through the day. I look at the words that brought me greatest comfort after my son breathed his last breath on earth. I think about the words that have been central, hinge truths in our marriage that have made it a quite good one. I think about the words that motivate me most on a daily basis. I think about the words that have proven time and time again to provide power and consistency in my life. And, they are basically the words of Jesus. Like the indomitable effect of his life and death and resurrection, his words continue to shape and influence everything. In fact, all other news becomes yesterday’s news rather quickly. All news, that is, except Jesus.’ His news will forever be today’s news.
As a result, I will consider all news as yesterday’s news (which it will soon become) and relegate it to that place even while it is fresh off the press and has today’s date on it. I will keep the words that will never pass away front and center in my life as today’s (and tomorrow’s) news. And, oddly, as I do that, my life becomes eternally relevant.
Please join me. Don’t relegate the words of God to a place of afterthought so that today’s latest news grabs your hearts attention. All you will end up with is “yesterday’s heart” even with today’s news.